


hinata shouyou's five step guide to getting a good date

by thestarsspokehername



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, Kagehina Big Bang 2020, Kageyama Tobio has Anxiety!, Kageyama Tobio is Bad at Feelings, Kageyama and Hinata have volleyball scholarships, Kageyama goes on a bad date in the first chapter so please beware, M/M, Oblivious Hinata Shouyou, Tsukishima runs a study group, roller skating date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28225647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarsspokehername/pseuds/thestarsspokehername
Summary: Welcome to Hinata Shouyou’s Five-Step Guide to Getting a Good Date!With this highly accurate guide, you can have your dream date in just five easy steps and, if your name is Kageyama Tobio, can stop calling my phone in the middle of class to bail you out of horrible ones.or, Kageyama doesn’t have the best luck in choosing people to talk to and worse luck when it comes to going on dates. Hinata is determined to change that, one way or another.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 142
Collections: Kagehina Big Bang 2020





	1. step 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for the Kagehina Big Bang 2020! The event was super fun and I want to thank everyone who made me feel welcome in the discord. I will be uploading a chapter every Monday until all five are uploaded. Please check out the wonderful art of my partner for this fic at @hana_shi_ on Twitter!

Kageyama Tobio was many things.

He was athletic, able to play volleyball for hours on end without tiring, even keeping up with the professional athletes that came for presentations and scouting. He was a quick thinker and clever, two reasons why he got a sports scholarship in the first place. He was even intelligent, to some degree. While definitely not on par with Tsukushima, he was smart enough to maintain the grades needed to keep his scholarship. Kageyama Tobio was many good things, all compiled neatly in a mental list.

Unfortunately, being good with romance was not included in that list of many good things and was the reason he ended up in this situation in the first place.

His nose scrunched up as another wave of the same alcoholic stench he had been dealing with for the last twenty-five minutes hit him dead in the face, resisting the urge to gag. A few empty glasses were scattered around the table, nothing left in them but some untouched bubbles. The fresh glass was placed quickly and effortlessly between two empty ones before the waitress quickly disappeared to the back without taking any of the dirty glasses, but he couldn’t say he blamed her as he glanced back at his “date”.

The man raised the glass to his lips and downed half the glass in one large gulp. A silly grin appeared as he slammed the glass down on the table with enough force to shake it, his eyes dragging over the glasses until they landed on Kageyama’s face. The silly grin didn’t change much as he propped his elbow onto the table and went to place his chin in his hand, except he missed terribly the first time and nearly slammed his chin into the table. After another unsuccessful attempt, he finally managed it and hiccuped loudly before talking.

“S-So, Tobio-”

“It’s Kageyama.”

“F-fine,  _ Kageyama.  _ You said ya were a-a...basketball major thingy, right?”

“Actually, no. I play volleyball and am in college on a volleyball scholarship,” he quickly corrected, averting his eyes to the menu in his hands. It must’ve not sat well with his date, because the menu was slowly lowered back onto the table with his date’s shaky fingers. Kageyama didn’t fight against it, instead focusing his eyes on his date’s nose. 

“W-well, what’s the differenceeee?~”

“There’s many, actually. For starters, one of the most noticeable differences in both the courts and the rules for said courts, which start with-”

“Don’t...don’t care.”

His date hiccuped with a yawn afterward, picking up his glass and raising it back to his lips. 

“Oh,” Kageyama muttered softly, shoulders deflating as the amber liquid went right down his date’s throat. Once there was nothing left, the glass was slammed down again and his date wobbly stood, leaning on the back of his chain for support before he shuffled past Kageyama, muttering something about, “ _ needin’ a piss _ ”. He disappeared down a hallway at the other end of the dining room and, as soon as he disappeared, the waitress who had placed his dish earlier returned and began rapidly collecting the glasses.

If she was eyeing him to see if he was the same as his date, Kageyama wouldn’t know, because the moment the guy left, he whipped out his phone and began typing away at the keyboard.

**kageyama.**

hinata.

get me out of here.

i’m begging.

**Sent! 12:58 pm**

His finger thrummed nervously against his volume button, waiting for a reply. The waitress was long gone when he looked up to do a visual sweep of the dining room, as were the empty glasses. All that remained were the two menus and a fresh glass of beer that was placed right atop his date’s menu. In any other circumstance, he’d consider it a rude assumption, but it was clearly a fair one as their bill was most likely composed of beer by now. He didn’t ponder on the thought for much longer before his phone vibrated, eyes jumping back to the screen to read the new texts.

**hinata.**

again??? 

this is the 2nd time this month

my professor is gonna start getting mad at me

(｡ŏ﹏ŏ).

**Sent! 1:01 pm**

**kageyama.**

i’m sorry, but he’s even worse than the last guy.

**Sent! 1:01 pm**

**hinata.**

worse?

didn’t think it could get worse...

**Sent! 1:01 pm**

**kageyama.**

well , it did.

**Sent! 1:02 pm**

**hinata.**

like, level 1 bad or level 10?

**Sent! 1:02 pm**

**kageyama.**

10.

**Sent! 1:02 pm**

**hinata.**

all you had to say.

put me on speaker when i call,

i’ll even start crying.

**Sent! 1:03 pm**

Kageyama cracked the first smile all afternoon upon reading that message, but it quickly fell as a hand came to rest on his shoulder. He pocketed the phone before shifting uncomfortably as his date used him as a crutch, somehow wobbling even more than before as he made his way back to his seat. He slumped downwards in it, fingers reaching out to curl around the glass before he was fully seated. As soon as he sat down and his mouth opened to take another large gulp, Kageyama’s phone began vibrating in his pocket. Perfect timing from Hinata, as usual.

Shamelessly, he picked up his phone and placed it to his ear, allowing his finger to “slip” and press the speaker button.

“Hello?”

“T-Tobio?”

Hinata’s shaky voice filled the immediate area, pausing only for a moment to take in a deep breath. It came back out as a loud sob a moment later, wet and  _ real  _ enough for even his date to pause the glass at his lips, quirking a brow towards Kageyama. He pretended not to notice.

“Hinata? Hinata, what’s wrong.”

He demanded, gripping the phone just a little bit tighter. There was a long silence for a moment, a little too long for Kageyama’s liking, before Hinata began talking again. 

“I-it’s K-Kindaichi. He...he was in a ca-car accident. Kunimi wants us to meet him at the hospital, it’s really bad and- o-oh god...”

There was a small slapping sound that Kageyama could only imagine was Hinata slapping his hand over his mouth. Whether it was in an attempt to sell this act even further or to stop himself from bursting out in giggles, Kageyama wasn’t sure. What he was sure of, however, that there was no way his date was going to question him as he stood up, the chair screeching to a stop a few feet away from the sheer force of it.

“I’ll be there soon, I’m heading out now.”

“P-please hurry.”

Hinata whimpered like a pathetic puppy as Kageyama dug around his pockets in a mock panic for money. He managed to find some after a good thirty seconds of digging, making sure to throw down just enough to make it look like he actually gave this date some thought before turning and hastily walking towards the door.

His date never spoke up once as he made his way out and, if he noticed the way Kageyama’s face seemed to lighten up the moment he disappeared from the table, he said nothing.

\-------

  
  


“Why do I always get the crappy guys.”

Kageyama groaned as he flopped onto Hinata’s bed in his dorm room, sending a few papers flying all over the blankets. He ignored his friend’s squawk of surprised anger and further ignored the small kicks delivered to his side as he propped himself up into a sitting position, glancing over at the bed on the opposite wall. Kindaichi sat in a criss-cross position with his laptop on his lap, but his arms were crossed and his face scrunched up like he had sucked on a lemon. He had been like that even before Kageyama entered the room. Hinata mentioned something over the phone about Kindaichi sulking because “ _ he doesn’t want to be the dead one in the excuse anymore _ ” and “ _ why can’t you say it’s Koganeawa for once?! _ ”, but his mood didn’t help improve Kageyama’s in the slightest.

Hinata was the only one unaffected, grabbing his papers and placing them back onto his lap. He didn’t look up at him until his papers were back in order. The rustling of papers seemed to last forever to Kageyama, and, combined with the sound of the ticking clock on the far wall and the occasional soft grumble from Kindaichi, he felt like he was spiraling into insanity. Finally, the orange-haired man looked up and offered him a cheeky smile, setting his papers on the desk beside his bed.

“A crappy attitude will attract those types of guys, KageyamAAAA! Let go, let go, I just saved your crappy behind!”

Kageyama had an iron grip on the shorter’s head, squeezing until he was sure his fingernails would embed themselves into his skull. Hinata’s arms flailed at his sides before grabbing onto Kageyama’s arm and attempting to push him away. He was unsuccessful and it only resulted in a harsher squeeze before his hand reluctantly fell away.

“I’m not that crappy.”

He defended himself, taking a chance and glancing at the other bed. Kindaichi didn’t meet his eyes, instead taking great interest in his keyboard. There was a numbness in his chest at the response ( _ or lack thereof _ ) from his former best friend, but he forced himself to refocus as Hinata dragged his body out of bed.

“Maybe you’re just going about it wrong! Dating apps, asking people to set you up...most of the time, pretty good methods! But they don’t always work, and that’s okay!”

Hinata slid into his desk chair and pulled open one of the draws. The inside was a mess of crumpled papers, pens, and various notebooks that made his finger’s twitch, but despite the mess, Hinata managed to reach in and pull out a flat sheet of lined paper and a pen. With a click of the pen, he began to doodle and scribble on the page. Kageyama didn’t see any of the writing, as whenever he tried to look over, Hinata would move the paper further across his desk away from him. The pen moved quickly and loosely across the paper, more than once sliding off of it and onto the desk, but Hinata didn’t seem to notice nor care. 

The sound of the ticking clock and furious scribbling was the only sounds he could hear for the next couple of minutes and those few minutes were more than enough for him to think about his words. All of the guys he had met had been through various friends and family members, or dating apps, but isn’t that how most people did it? And the few times he did manage to get a date- well, it always ended similarly to his experience from just an hour before. 

He shook his head to clear away the memories of those dates. There was always next time, that’s what he kept telling himself, but each “next time” was more disastrous than the last time. And he didn’t dare to even think, “ _ well, at least it can’t get worse _ ,” because he was almost certain God was listening and had made it his personal mission to see that each time was, indeed, worse.

“Now, those conventional methods are  _ fine,  _ as I was saying, but they won’t work at all if you don’t have any experience!”

Hinata finally stopped his scribbling, throwing the pen back into the drawer, but still kept the paper hidden from Kageyama. Though, looking at it was pretty low on the raven’s list after that comment.

“What does that mean, dumbass? I’ve been on dates before.”

“Yes, yes, I know! But none of them were good, right?”

There was no answer, but Kageyama didn’t reach out and try to squish his head again, so he took that as his cue to continue.

“Even if you have experience with dates, they won’t ever be good if you don’t have experience in landing them with good guys. You, my dear Kageyama, need to learn how to score a good guy for a good date. And for that, I propose  _ this!” _

The paper Hinata had been furiously scribbling on was shoved in his face as soon as the word left his mouth. Kageyama’s head reared back and his eyes narrowed, but he grabbed the paper and began reading.

He didn’t get past the first ten words before his face erupted in red. Or maybe that was his vision. Or maybe both.

“What the hell is this?!”

He yelled, lowering the paper to fixate his glare on Hinata. Doodled across the top of the paper in large, underlined letters were the words “Hinata Shouyou’s Five-Step Plan To Getting A Good Date”. Stars and various hearts were doodled around the words and the description that lay under the giant header, which Kageyama read with gritted teeth.

“ _ Welcome to Hinata Shouyou’s Five-Step Guide to Getting a Good Date! With this highly accurate guide, you can have your dream date in just five easy steps and, if your name is Kageyama Tobio, can stop calling my phone in the middle of class to bail you out of horrible ones. Meetings will be held in the west library on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12pm to 1:30pm. For further inquiry, please see the number and email address below.” _

“And I’m leaving.”

Kindaichi muttered, snapping his laptop closed and slipping out the door. It was a smart move, as Kageyama crumpled up the paper and threw it onto his bed as soon as the door closed before leaping at Hinata. The other male let out a terrified squeak before falling out of his chair and scrambling onto Kindaichi’s bed, swatting at Kageyama with a grey pillowcase like he was a deranged animal. 

Kageyama paused in between the two beds, glaring up at him with such ferocity that it turned Hinata’s blood to ice. His lips curled upwards into a snarl ( _ really not helping the whole “deranged animal” look,  _ Hinata mused, but kept to himself), but he managed to keep himself at bay. 

“You better explain in the next minute or I’m going to be committing a murder.”

“It’s a poster, Bakayama! I’m gonna hang them around campus and teach a class to help poor, romanceless, looking-for-love people like you-”

“Wrong answer.”

He lunged at the other man, who threw the pillow at his face and leapt across the space in between the two beds. As Kageyama slammed into the wall that Kindaichi’s bed was next to, Hinata landed on wobbly legs on his bed. He steadied himself by leaning on the wall, but not quick enough. Kageyama shot his arm out and knocked the other off balance and his grip on the wall just wasn’t enough to keep him from falling face-first into his bed. Hinata brought his head up for a large gasp of air after inhaling an ungodly amount of freshly-cleaned-blanket smell, but his head was shoved right back into the blankets a moment later.

“I am  _ not  _ letting you make me the laughing stock of the campus.”

Kageyama growled as the boy flailed against him, letting his head go after a moment with a huff. He knew when enough was enough, of course, but it didn’t stop Hinata from hurling another pillow at his face.

“ _ Bakayama!  _ I’m not  _ actually  _ going to hang them around the school! Geez, how’d you already fail the first step without me even explaining it?”

First step? Fail? Kageyama’s brain paused to process those words. Surely, this was just an elaborate joke and Hinata hadn’t  _ actually  _ put thought into this plan of his. That’s what he wanted to think, wanted to believe, but the grin that was slowly forming on Hinata’s face said otherwise.

“The first step to getting a good date is knowing when not to be so serious! People like people they can joke around with. You can still be serious, but it’s good for everyone- yourself included- to loosen up every now and then!”

“I can take a joke.”

“You can’t even take a pickup line. An obvious one, at that.”

Hinata sighed dramatically, shaking his head back and forth. Kageyama huffed as his cheeks began burning again. So what if he didn’t know the “did you fall from heaven, because you look like an angel” pickup line, and so what if he had supposedly shut down a guy two months ago who had used it. It didn’t mean he couldn’t take a joke or be loose!

Hinata must’ve taken pity on his sorry expression or something because his next words held less of a teasing tone and more of a serious one.

“Seriously, I’m not hanging these around school! But I can help if you let me. After all, who was the one that helped matchmake all those couples in high school? The very ones that are still together to this day?”

There was a silence between them for a moment before Kageyama begrudgingly whispered something. Hinata leaned in closer, resting his head on his palm.

“I’m sorry, come again?”

“You did.”

“Exactly what I thought! All I’m saying is give me a chance. I’ve used this plan before and it works! It’ll make life easier for all of us- you can get a date that you don’t have to run from, I can stop making up family emergencies to leave class to come save you from the dates, and Kindaichi can stop complaining about being used as an excuse for said dates! So, whaddya say?!”

What he really wanted to say were two words;  _ hell no _ .

But Hinata, as much as Kageyama hated it, had a point. He was tired of going on such crappy dates. Of course, stopping was always an option, but he didn’t want to be alone his whole life and most people met their lifelong partner in college. He didn’t want to miss out on that opportunity. He also knew that calling Hinata to bail him out wouldn’t always work. 

Kageyama sucked in a deep breath. This was better than nothing. The worst that could happen was Hinata did little to no improvement for his romance skills and Kageyama went back to his hopeless searching. He hoped that was the worst that could happen.

“Fine.”

Hinata beamed and stuck out his hand, propping his back against the wall. The crumpled piece of paper slowly slid off Kindaichi’s bed as he did, but Kageyama paid no attention to it as it fell to the floor.

“We’ll start with step two tomorrow! Okay?”

Kageyama wanted to say that they had barely gone over step one, wanted to say that there was no way in hell they were going to move that fast with this, but he knew better. With Hinata, everything was fast. With Hinata, everything was reckless. He knew this and he knew the bed he had made was waiting for him. All he had to do was lie in it.

And so he did, clasping his hand around Hinata’s and giving him a firm shake.

Kageyama Tobio was many things, and not knowing the adventure he had just gotten himself into was one of them. 


	2. step 2

Hinata woke up and went through his daily routine like it was any other day.

He rolled out of bed to the insistent beeping of his alarm and made sure to slam it off before Kindaichi woke up and yelled at him. He dared to spare a glance at the sleeping lump on the other bed after he shut it off. Luckily, the other boy didn’t even stir. Hinata didn’t take any chances as he made his way around their dorm, gathering what he’d need for the day, and ducking out into the hall. The door clicked softly closed behind him.

The hallway was just as quiet as his dorm room. His only companions were the beige paint between doorways up and down the hall and his thoughts. Nobody else was awake at such a time, not even the usual chirping of early morning birds outside. The large window at the end of the hall reflected the glare of the hall lights but if he squinted, he could see the black of the night sky beginning to fade away into a dark blue, the stars beginning to flicker in and out of existence as if they were tiny spotlights. 

It was like he was the only one in the world.

It would be awfully lonely if he really was, but the thought brought a wave of comfort over him as well.  _ ‘Oh hush, Shouyou,’  _ the athlete chided himself as he jogged past the elevator and towards the stairwell,  _ ‘no use thinking like that!’  _

The cold air of the stairwell hit him like a smack to the face, but he didn’t stick around to shiver. The thuds of his feet slapping against the concrete stairs echoed through the stairwell as he traveled past the seventh floor, then the sixth and fifth. He only stopped for a moment to catch his breath on the fourteen floor’s platform before jogging past that as well. It was only when he reached the third platform that he stopped himself, and that was only because of the tall figure that blocked the rest of the platform.

Hinata pursed his lips.

“C’mon bakayama, if you agreed to go for a run with me, I expect you to run!”

Kageyama turned around to glower at him, but it had little effect on Hinata. He used the opportunity to slip past the taller boy and down the other sets of stairs. He could hear Kageyama’s footsteps pick up behind him halfway down the second set of stairs. The sound caused a grin to break out on his face and he quickened his pace, finally landing on the bottom platform. The door to the lobby faced his back as he turned and let his grin morph into a smirk as Kageyama came to a stop in front of him.

“Beat you down the stairwell  _ again. _ ”

“This doesn’t count.”

“Sure it doesn’t.”

Hinata grinned before opening the lobby door and disappearing through it, not waiting around for his partner.

The run itself was rather uneventful. He showed Kageyama his usual route through the campus, the street lights flickering off above them halfway through when it became light enough out. They circled the library their study group was held in (Kageyama wasn’t shy about grimacing when he was reminded they had study group later that same day) and came into the small park that lay beyond it. It was only when they came to a stop at Hinata’s usual rest stop that he decided to bring up his “plan”.

“So, step two!”

Kageyama lowered his water bottle and raised his brow. The look of realization crossed his face a moment later and he lowered it all the way to stare at him. Hinata pulled out his phone and began tapping away as soon as he put his password in. Several buzzes rang from his own phones seconds later and he pulled it out just as Hinata put his own away. The faces of his grandfather and Miwa greeted him as his screen lit up, but their eyes were hidden by several message notifications- all from the man in front of him.

“That’s our full plan! We already went over step one, but step two is completely outlined in the second message!”

He leaned over Kageyama’s phone and pointed for him. Kageyama tapped on it and the words popped up instantly. There were several lines, enough to make several paragraphs, bolded words, underlined parts, and more. If he was fazed by how much energy Hinata put into this, he didn’t let it show on his face. He began reading. As he did, Hinata began talking.

“Step two of learning how to get a good date; going on a date you  _ actually  _ want to go on! Sure, you've gone on dates before and maybe they were half decent. But at one point or another, you call me to bail you out! So either the person sucked or the date sucked, whatever, but making sure it’s a date you want to go on before you even agree can be a huge gamechanger!”

Hinata paused and stared at the raven. His brows had furrowed at the screen, but before he could lean over again to look at what part he was reading about, his eyes flickered up. They met and Kageyama gave a small nod before looking back at the screen. The message was simple;  _ keep talking. _

“I have reason to believe that you just went on dates because you were asked. Maybe you were afraid you wouldn’t be asked again, maybe you didn’t know how to say no. But this step is going to change that! So, with that in mind, let’s do something later today. I’m thinking of the aquarium!”

“Sure.”

The phone was snatched from his hand. Kageyama blinked and let his mouth gape at the expression Hinata wore in front of him. The phone was clenched securely in his hand with the faces of Miwa and grandfather appearing for a second more before the screen faded to black and reflected his thumb. A gust of morning wind blew through both their hair and he resisted the urge to shiver as leaves swirled around them. But neither of those things truly caught his attention. His lips jutted outwards in a pout and his cheeks were puffed up like water balloons. The glare up at Tobio was the cherry on top, all intensity but none of the negative emotions. 

It made his heart skip a beat, like looking at a pouting puppy. It was cute. It was adorable. It was…

“Babyish, you’re so babyish.”

He grumbled and latched onto Hinata’s hair. The cries of pain were no deterrent and he only relented once the phone was placed back into his open palm. Hinata huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“The whole point of this was for you to go on a date that you want to go on! You can’t just agree willy-nilly about what you want to do.”

“Why not? It sounds fine to me.”

He grumbles, shoving his phone into his pocket. It won’t get snatched again anytime soon.

“Well, for one, you hate the aquarium. The jellyfish creep you out. Two, we have practice later today, so anything we do will have to be  _ after.  _ That’s why.”

“Oh.”

It all came back to him as Hinata talked and he had a point, but Kageyama was so used to agreeing right off the bat. He was so used to a fear gripping around his ankles that if he didn’t agree to whatever his date had planned, they would go and find someone else. He had limited dating experience as it was; compromising or suggesting his own idea of a date was not an option. 

“...I’m asking you to choose a date, not whether to run over an old lady or a newborn child.”

“You’re morbid.”

The athlete’s face dropped. Hinata merely grinned up at him, took one last swig of his water bottle, and began to run. He left Kageyama in the dust in the park, pausing when he got to the exit and turned around.

“I expect an answer by study group today!”

He turned around the corner. 

The rest of the day passed by Hinata in a blur. He got back and showered, ate breakfast, and attended all his classes. His lunch was spent working on homework for his Exercise and Sports Science class with Kindaichi and handing it in twenty minutes later. Finally, late afternoon arrived and so did the ending of his Math class. 

A tiny alarm went off on his phone rights as their professor dismissed his class and he pulled it out to look at it. It was a reminder to attend his study group and he had to hold back a groan. As  _ excited  _ as he was, he was dreading looking at the English assignments he had let pile up again. His shoulders slumped and he clicked off the alarm, sluggishly collecting his things.

“Hinata, you look dead.”

He turned his eyes to blankly stare up at Yamaguchi, who offered him a tiny smile. HIs grey bag was slung over his shoulder and a familiar English assignment was in his hands. A loud groan left Hinata and he slumped down in his seat.

“...I don’t want to deal with him today.”

“Oh c’mon! He’s not that bad.”

“You’re biased! He’s your boyfriend!”

A nonchalant shrug was his answer. Yamaguchi grabbed Hinata’s bag and closed the zipper before nudging the other boy's shoulder. Hinata took the hint and slung the bag over his shoulder and stood up, following him to the door. The professor waved them goodbye as the door closed and they began their way to the study group.

It was a route Hinata had taken every Tuesday; they’d leave the math building, walk down the front, and make a right. They’d cross through one of the outdoor sitting areas and past the volleyball gymnasium before arriving at one of the two libraries on the campus. Flashing their school ID at the entrance allowed them access to the second floor. Bookshelves stacked full of books reached towards the ceiling and curled around spread out tables. The walkway through them led to the main table area, where most students lingered with various textbooks and laptops. Behind the table area were the computer tables, which featured two long tables with multiple desktops attached and running. Tiny walls separated the students from one another and that was the last thing before the bookshelves took over once again. 

Their study group sat near the left computer table. They had pushed two tables together to accommodate the amount of people that showed up and the table was divided into three sections from the three core subjects that everyone needed help with. Hinata was hoping that they could slip in without disturbing the group, but he was never that lucky. He was caught trying to slip in between Nishinoya and Tanaka and froze as his name was called out from the head of the table.

“You’re late,  _ Hinata.” _

Hinata wasn’t particularly scared of Tsukishima Kei. He was an arrogant asshole and acted like he knew everything in the world, but that didn’t make him scary. What did make him scary was when Hinata interrupted his routine when he was in a bad mood (which, for Hinata, seemed to be  _ always). _ His nose was stuck into the air and the glare of the lights against his glasses hid his eyes, but he didn’t need to see them to know the cold look he was receiving.

Yamaguchi made his way over without any issue and pressed a kiss to his boyfriend's cheek.

“Sorry, Tsukki! You know the walk takes us a little bit.”

The kiss seemed to work some sort of magic because the blond merely grumbled and turned his attention back to the Science textbook he was explaining to Kyotani. Hinata took the hint and slipped into the seat between Tanaka and Nishinoya, who were currently being grilled by Terushima and Ennoshita for their English test scores.

“We studied all of this! We even gave you practice tests!”

Ennoshita hissed lowly, throwing the papers down in front of them. The two flinched and let out nervous chuckles as he crossed his arms. Terushima clicked his tongue and nudged the other’s side, pointing to a question on Tanaka’s paper.

“He didn’t even write his name in the right area!”

“I was nervous!”

They both shushed him and he slumped backward in his seat. Hinata placed his assignments on his desk and cast a glance around the table, eventually finding Kageyama on the far end from where he was sitting. His elbow was on the table and his hand tugged at his hair as Oikawa continuously pointed out the errors in his math homework. Kunimi chimed in now and again from across from him which caused the setter to group his pencil so hard that Hinata was sure it’d snap. 

Terushima grabbed Hinata’s assignment and slid it over to him. His eyes trailed over it for a moment before he looked up at the man.

“Hinata.”

“Yes?”

“This is due tomorrow.”

His ears turned scarlet. From across the table, Kageyama snickered and was quickly chastised by Oikawa, who pointed out that his two assignments he was working on were a week  _ late.  _ He would’ve given him the finger, but Terushima quickly roped him into his work.

The study group dragged on for one long, excruciating hour. It was an hour filled with misspelled pronunciations and writing, with Oikawa becoming frustrated with Kageyama and having to be saved by Iwaizumi multiple times, and Nishinoya and Tanaka nearly getting kicked out of the library twice. Throughout it all, Hinata kept sneaking glances at Kageyama. They were too far apart to whisper about their new plans and Hinata’s phone hadn’t gone off at all. Nothing was stopping him from getting up and going to talk to him but, as Terushima said, his assignment was due tomorrow.

With a mental groan, he sucked it up for the hour and managed to finish the assignment with more than enough help from the group.

When Tsukishima announced that their group was over for the day, his fingers dropped the pencil he was holding and he threw his head back with a small groan. Tanaka and Nishinoya joined him and their actions resulted in a few glares from other students, but at the moment, he couldn't care less.

His eyes closed as chairs skidded against the ground and footsteps began padding away from him. He waited a few moments before opening them again and taking a glance around the table. The chairs were neatly shoved back in and all remnants of the study group had been collected by the others. His completed work was still in front of him, creased and covered in eraser marks. Hinata shoved it into his bag without a second thought and got up, pushing in his chair.

“Roller skating.”

“Jesus!”

Hinata nearly jumped out of his skin as he whirled around. Kageyama stood behind him, his black bag thrown over one shoulder and phone in hand. He held it right in front of the other boy and his eyes drifted downwards to read what was on the screen. 

“ _ Rapid Roller Rink,”  _ Hinata read, eyes dragging back up to Kageyama’s face. “You know how to skate?”

His ears turned pink and he pocketed his phone, shuffling on his feet. He looked bashful, maybe even flustered. After a moment, he murmured his answer to Hinata.

“Well...no.”

“Why'd you choose it then?”

A small snort from Hinata. He quickly dodged around Kageyama’s hand as it grabbed his head, skipping over to the exit of the sitting area. Kageyama followed now, with a small scowl on his face.

“Maybe I want to learn! Something wrong with that?”

“Nope!~ Considering I don’t know either!”

Hinata laughed and vanished down the aisle of books. He heard a strangled noise from somewhere behind him, but he was already halfway down the stairs to the main floor when he turned to look behind him. Kageyama followed closely behind him from the tops of the steps, taking two at a time to try and catch up with the redhead. He reached him in no time and the two stared at one another for a long moment. Some students drifted past them on the stairs as they did, eyes calculating and doing their best to figure the other out.

They had been trying to figure the other out since they met and Hinata didn’t know what the case was for Kageyama, but for him, he wasn’t a single step closer than the first day. Kageyama was a prodigy in volleyball and a mystery in life.

He was also the one who relented first, turning and continuing his way down the stairs.

“You’re gonna make us late for practice.”

“Me?! Hey!”

With another violent shush from somewhere in the library, Hinata followed Kageyama down and out from the building.

Volleyball practice was normal, for the most part. Or as normal as it could get with the amount of people who tried out and made it in. Hinata practiced with three separate groups, each honing a new skill. Oikawa did his best to give him some pointers on jump serving, but quickly abandoned the idea when he hit Iwaizumi in the back of the head with a serve. 

Hinata did his normal training with Kageyama as well. They practiced their ridiculous quicks and did diving laps across the gym with Nishinoya. It was filled with their usual banter and snappy insults at one another that caused Daichi’s temper to flare on more than one occasion, but no mention of their date came up until the locker room. 

Hinata aggressively rubbed his head with the towel to get rid of as much water as possible. Once he was satisfied, he lowered the towel to see Kageyama giving him a blank stare from beside him. He cocked an eyebrow at the setter, who merely shrugged at him.

“If that’s how you dry your hair, it explains why you’re nearly failing every class.”

“Hey!”

  
  
Hinata lunged at him, but Kageyama stepped out of the way and allowed him to crash into the bench on the other side of the locker room. His knees folded as he fell over the bench and collapsed into the small space between the bench and the lockers. Kageyama snickered as he struggled to get up. He offered no help whatsoever and, once the other had finally wiggled himself out and up, offered a small smirk.

Hinata, on the other hand, huffed and gave him a certain finger.

“You suck.”

  
  
“As you’ve said numerous times.”

Kageyama retorted, closing this locker completely and grabbing his gym bag. 

“I hope you have more coordination than that when we’re skating.”

“Shut up.”

He mimicked the other’s actions and then paused. Kageyama, who was already halfway to the exit, turned around and raised his eyebrow in question. Instead of giving a reason as to why he stopped, he pointed at the other.

“You’re wearing... _ that?” _

Kageyama’s post-workout, post-volleyball, ‘ _ I’m-too-tired-to-actually-look-decent’ _ attire was something Hinata wouldn’t recommend to anyone. It consisted of his worn gym shoes, plain grey sweatpants, and a black t-shirt with a cartoon milk carton on it. Hinata’s attire, which was nothing more than some dark jeans and a white tee, looked like ballroom attire by default.

“Uh, yes?”

Wrong answer. Hinata let out an exasperated gasp and dropped his bag to the floor. He rushed Kageyama and grabbed his face, dragging him down to his level. The taller had no time to react before he was staring into Hinata’s eyes, which were far too serious over clothes. Their faces were so close that he could feel his breath over his cheeks and chin and nose and lips. They were close enough that Kageyama could pick out the stray hairs dancing across Hinata’s forehead or measure the length of his eyelashes. They were close enough that the contact generated heat in his cheeks that he hoped could be blamed on Hinata’s breath.

“You are not wearing that on our date, bakayama! Don’t you know you have to dress for the occasion?! God, you’re really hopeless.”

Before he had any time to try and defend himself, Hinata pulled away. He grabbed his bag with one hand and Kageyama’s hand in the other and yanked him toward the doors of the locker room. His two choices were to run along or try and stop him. With the second option promising him either tripping over his shoelaces and landing face-first on the ground or running into the other boy, he sucked it up and let Hinata drag him in the direction of the dorms.

_________________

  
  


An hour later and they were finally standing in front of the roller rink. The building was shaped in a large oval shape with a small square hallway for the doors and front desk that led to the rink. Above them, a bright sign had “ _ Rapid Roller Rink _ ” in cursive letters. Two roller skates were under each “R”, even brighter than the orange and yellow sign with their neon pinks and blues. If Kageyama didn’t feel as humiliated as he did, he’d bring his face up from the ground and take in the sight of the sign.

He had no idea how or where Hinata got these outfits and, frankly, wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. Black sweatpants with a neon blue stripe on either side hugged his legs. The top of the pants was covered by the large black hoodie Hinata had forced onto him. Two overlapping balls with tiny stems coming out of them were sewn into the chest of the hoodie with the same neon blue that was on his pants. The only part of the outfit he had gotten to compromise on was the shoes he wore, which didn’t even matter since they’d bet taking them off anyways.

Beside him, Hinata showed no shame for the outfit he wore. His was identical to Kageyama's except for the color (his being neon pink) and the design on the hoodie (a group of three strawberries). He wore a bright grin as he pushed open the doors and held it for Kageyama, who trudged in like he had lead in his shoes. The entryway was white with neon blue, neon pink, and white tiles decorating the floor that led to the front desk. Vending machines and claw machines lined the walls around them and they quickly passed the sitting area to the woman at the desk. She smiled kindly at both of them and Hinata was quick in giving their shoe sizes.

She disappeared into the back and Kageyama continued to stare at the floor. Several moments passed without any talking or movement, only the faint thrumming of music from behind the doors leading into the rink. He closed his eyes and shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. So far, his dating experience with Hinata was that he had been forced into an outfit and they had yet to say anything to one another. So, in other words, it wasn’t good.

When he opened his eyes again, a pair of white and blue roller skates were held in front of his face.

Hinata held his own pink pair in his free hand and Kageyama took them with a small murmur of “thanks”. They both took a seat on the ground near the doors and laced themselves up, placing their normal shoes into cubby holes near the front desk. Once they were all laced up and had a brief explanation from the front desk woman about how to stop and what to do if they needed help on the rink, the doors were opened and they were whisked in.

The first thing he noticed was how dark everything was. It was dim enough that he had to squint to allow his eyes to adjust. Lights hung from the ceiling projected colorful spotlights onto the rink and allowed for some illumination. Walls were erected all along the rink, providing stability for some of the lesser skilled skaters and separating the walking area from the skating area. A DJ’s booth was placed right in the center of the rink, surrounded by the same walls but with a small break in the front where people could skate in and request a song. It was all impressive and certainly upheld a fun atmosphere, but none of it was what caught his eye first.

The thing that really caught his eye was the reason Hinata had decked them out in such bright colors.

The skates lit up as soon as the doors closed behind them, as did his sweatpants and the design on his hoodie. The aggressive neon now offered a soft glow around his body and he turned to look at Hinata, who gave him a smug grin. 

Hinata’s body glowed a soft pink from the design and was surprisingly fitting. In the dark, his hair didn’t stand out as much as it usually did and allowed more focus on his face and body. But Hinata didn’t take his time to take in the sights like Kageyama did. Instead, he skated right on out into the rink and got a total of five feet before falling.

Kageyama didn’t laugh this time and took his time getting to the other, leaning onto the wall of the rink as he traveled down to him. Once he reached him, he stared down with a deadpan expression.

“Like I said earlier; some coordination.”   
  


“Shut up and help me up.”

Hinata mumbled, defeated as he tried to get to his feet and fell backward. Kageyama leaned one arm on the wall and grabbed Hinata’s with the others before hoisting him up. Hinata leaned back against the wall for a moment to steady his breathing, but when Kageyama went to move his hand away, only tightened his grip.

“Let’s try skating like this! We can balance each other out.”

“Absolutely not.”

  
Turns out, “no” wasn’t in Hinata Shouyou’s vocabulary. He took off down the rink with him, speeding past other skaters. The speed they were going at was dangerously fast; there was no way they’d be able to stop if they needed to. Kageyama gripped the other’s hand tightly and did his best to steer clear from the walls on either side of the rink. The repetitive circles combined with the spotlights overhead were starting to make him nauseous. He really hoped they slowed down soon because he didn’t feel like vomiting all over the rink.

Luckily for him, Hinata decided to slow down to a more casual pace after their umpteenth time around the DJ booth. They fell in line with a gentle blue spotlight that fell over them, keeping pace with it around the rink. 

“Having fun?”

Kageyama looked over at him. Hinata wore a gentle smile on his face as they skated. From just a simple glance into his eyes, he could tell that he was having a great time. And so, Kageyama considered the question. Hinata had dressed him up, dragging him around to the rink to the point where he thought he’d throw up, and then had the audacity to ask if he was having fun?

“Yeah, I am.”

Hinata hummed thoughtfully and focused his gaze back onto the rink. Kageyama took this time to watch his movement. He watched how his lips twitched upwards whenever they would pass a young girl around Natsu’s age, or how eyes would narrow in concentration when they took a particularly sharp turn. He watched how the hoodie sleeve on his other arm was so big that it completely covered his hand, and he watched how the blue light made him glow. He was thankful for the blue light for that, and for also hiding the rising pink on his cheeks. Kageyama refocused on the rink ahead of them and continued to skate.

As they skated aimlessly to the music, their connected hands swung aimlessly between them.


	3. step 3

Their roller skating date was the start of many to come. A neat list of things they both wanted to do was compiled and, slowly but surely, they worked through them. They negotiated some and got rid of others, but a majority of their list had been crossed off as the weeks dwindled into months. 

And with each date crossed off the list, Kageyama pondered on several things.

They were on the cusp of winter break and the dates were getting weird. Not weird in the sense that Hinata was going to kill him in a back alley and disappear halfway around the world with all his assets, but weird in the sense that Hinata left him feeling...different. It was the best way to describe it because there was no one word to tell how his stomach got all fuzzy at the mention of these dates, or how Hinata’s fingers felt locking against his, or how these thoughts would plague his mind in a fog all day that would magically clear as soon as he saw the ginger.

The fog in his mind was something he had never experienced because it didn’t act like normal fog. It didn’t make things harder to see and comprehend, it did the exact opposite and now, he found Hinata  _ everywhere _ . He found him in the main character of the movie his professor put on for the class. He found him in the orange wildflowers that grew in the stretches of grass alongside the campus. He found him in the reflection of his coffee in the morning and in the shape of his dreams at night. He knew it to be true; Hinata Shouyou was taking over his life and Kageyama couldn’t even complain because he liked it and  _ how would he describe it when there’s no one word that could describe it? _

As he rearranged the letters of his page to spell Hinata’s name again, he knew that wasn’t true. 

There was one word that could explain everything. One word that would answer everything and nothing, fix and break, hurt and heal. A word he hid away when he started dating and a word that was seeing the sunlight once again because of Hinata Shouyou.

A word he won’t be saying, but one that everyone knows.

“-and when you divide by two, the equation...King, are you listening?”

He snapped his head up from the page to find everyone staring at him. Tsukishima, the one who had distracted him, had a particularly cold gaze directed right at him. Kageyama shrunk in on himself and nodded before turning his attention back to his paper. The silence persisted for a moment before Tsukishima sighed and continued on with his talk. 

He went back to spelling out Hinata’s name with the words. He dragged his pencil lazily from one letter to another, starting all over again once he reached the final one. The work he had been doing was easily traced over with the dark lines to the point where he could barely make it out anymore. Tsukishima continued to drone on, just as he continued to trace, but a chair scraped from beside him and a hand reached out from the corner of his gaze. It landed on his own, pausing his movements and making him look up at its owner. 

“I know it sounds boring, but you should really copy these down.”

Sugawara smiled kindly, his hand falling away from his. Kageyama nodded, glancing down at his paper yet again. Sugawara’s eyes followed and he watched from his peripheral vision as the silver-haired boy scanned over his work. He said nothing for a few seconds before his lips twitched and an unknown sparkle appeared in his eye.

“After all, Hinata will need them when he gets here from practice.~”

Hinata’s name was sung too knowingly for it to be innocent. Sugawara was already back to scribbling down notes when he looked up again, but that wouldn’t stop his tirade of questions. 

“Am I really being that obvious? Does anyone else know? Does he know? Did-”

_ “King.” _

The name was spat out this time and if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with Sugawara, he’d reach across the table and strangle that scrawny blond neck.

“I’m  _ trying  _ to get work done here. Unlike you, not all of us were born into royalty and can afford to slack on our grades. If you’re done harassing your subjects, I beg you to please let us continue.”

Sugawara shot him an apologetic glance from the corner of his eye, but Kageyama didn’t pay him any attention. His eyes drifted to the empty seat across from Tanaka that currently held a few bookbags, but would typically hold an energetic Hinata. His hand drifted to his phone in his pocket and fumbled with the ringer, making sure it was turned “On”. Hinata could text any time to say he was on his way and he didn’t want to miss it.

After a few seconds of fumbling and no notifications, he decided to tug out his phone and scroll through the banners. That was apparently the final straw for Tsukishima, who exhaled through his nose and slammed his book down.

The sound reverberated throughout the library and from its depths, someone gave a harsh shush. Yamaguchi flinched beside his boyfriend and slowly lowered his own book to glance at him. His gaze was fixated on Kageyama and even with his fingers curling around his wrist, he knew that there was no way to stop whatever Tukishima was going to say.

“If you don’t care for your grades, you’re more than free to leave. I’m sure texting your queen is more important, after all. Planning dates, I’m guessing?”

“I-I’m not-!”

Kageyama’s voice cracked in the middle of his defense. He quickly pocketed his phone and picked up his long-forgotten book, hoping that it would act as a shield. His eyes scanned the pages furiously as blood rushed to his cheeks. Queen? What queen? There is no queen. Tsukishima was just trying to get a rise out of him and the worst part was that it was working.

He peered his eyes over the edge of the book after a few seconds, hoping that everyone had forgotten about it. A silly expectation, but a simple one nonetheless. But no, nobody had forgotten and everyone was looking at him in one way or another. Tsukishima’s lips curled upwards knowingly and he rested his chin on his hand before raising his nose towards Kageyama.

“Go on, King. Since she’s clearly more important than everyone learning, I suppose we can take a break.”

“No, we can c-continue-.”

Another stutter, but this one caused by two arms wrapping firmly around his shoulders. A blur of orange appeared in his vision and he stiffened visibly. Everyone’s eyes were now off him and were directed right behind him at the mystery hugger with orange hair. 

Tanaka and Nishinoya’s gazes flickered between him and Hinata at rapid-fire speed. A small, but apologetic smile was still on Sugawara’s lips. Tsukishima’s lips were still pulled into that cold smile and Kageyama knew that the bastard was enjoying his humiliation. A low groan rumbled in his chest and he slumped downwards in his chair. Hinata’s mouth was right next to his ear, blowing air that tickled the side of his face. Hinata opened his mouth wide after a moment and Kageyama prepared for a large blow or a scream in his ear.

Instead, he started speaking. And the words that came out made everything a hundred times worse.

“Ready for our date, Tobio?”

Utter silence. 

The table went so quiet, Kageyama was sure he could hear a pin drop (which was saying something, considering Tanaka and Nishinoya  _ never  _ shut up). A blush exploded across his face at Hinata’s words and he buried his nose deeper into the book, trying to hide from the inevitable chaos that was to follow those words. 

_ ‘God,’  _ he thought, scrunching his eyes closed,  _ ‘why did I have to fall in love with this idiot?’ _

The explosion came sooner than he thought, with Nishinoya jumping across the table to grab the book out from his hands, exposing him to the world. He quickly aimed his gaze at the ground but didn’t miss the baffled look from Sugawara, the smug expression of Tsukushima, the  _ oh-so-blissfully confused innocent expression of Hinata. _

“So, the king  _ was  _ going on dates. Just with a different queen than we expected.”

“Shut up, Tsukushima.”

Kageyama all but growled at the blond, who put up his hands in mock defense before bowing. He sure didn’t miss the sarcastic mutter of “ _ sorry, my highness”  _ that left his mouth, but two arms wrapping around his shoulders trapped him in place from reaching across the table and strangling him.

“Ne, Tobio! Don’t start a fight in the library.”

There came the second wave of chaos. 

Tanaka and Nishinoya doubled over onto the floor, laughing way too loud for a library. Kageyama was sure he heard the same shush as before somewhere in there, but he couldn’t be certain. Sugawara’s baffled expression remained, as well as Tsukishima’s smug one, and he was sure they were both questioning Hinata’s question. Luckily for him, only Sugawara decided to act on it. Unluckily, he asked the one question that made everything go from  _ worse  _ to  _ horrible _ .

“Kageyama confessed to you? Or you confessed to him? I had no idea you two were dating!”

“We’re not! See, Kageyama here  _ sucks  _ at dates. So I created a five-step plan that would help him get better! Step one, knowing when to not be too serious. Step two, comprising on dates. And today, step three! Learning how to communicate.”

“So, you’re not actually dating?”

Kageyama shot Sugawara a pleading look, but it was too late. A loud laugh came from the man beside him and he could feel Hinata shake his head. He was expecting the rejection, but it stung more than he ever could’ve imagined. He was glad his back was facing Hinata because he was sure the expression on his face was crestfallen. Sugawara jammed his mouth shut and looked back at the table, mumbling something inaudible.

There was a pressure on his back and the hair appeared on the other side of his face, on the side that was closer to Sugawara.

“What’d ya say, Suga?”

The silver-haired boy quickly looked up, glancing between Kageyama and Hinata. His hand crept to the back of his neck and he nervously chuckled while giving it a good rub.

“Ah, it’s nothing important…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m-”

“He said you’re being cruel.”

Tsukishima spoke up from across the table. His chin was no longer in his palm and his nose was no longer pointed up, but most notably was the absence of his smile. His lips were pressed into a thin line now, Kageyama even daring to think he saw them twitching into a frown. He had to raise his voice to speak over Tanaka and Nishinoya’s laughter and Ennoshita’s attempts to corral them, so Kageyama knew this wasn’t a mumbled mistake like Sugawara’s. There was a shuffling behind him and the pressure disappeared from his back.

“How?”

The confusion lacing his voice was like a punch to the gut. It was innocent, harmless; he truly had no clue of Kageyama’s feelings. Tsukishima clicked his tongue together and let his eyes fall back to the setter, eyes narrowing. 

“Go ahead, King. Tell him.”

“You bastard…”

He whispered the words, too afraid that if he spoke them normally, his voice would betray him yet again. His book trembled in his hands and he begged. He  _ begged  _ that Tsukishima would keep his mouth shut. That he wouldn’t have to turn around and see Hinata’s confused expression he knew was there. That he could go back to his dorm room and pretend this never happened because he was content in hiding his feelings if it meant keeping Hinata as his friend and now, that was all screwed up.

“Boys!”

His begging was answered in the form of a plump, black-haired lady from behind their group. Tsukishima turned to watch the librarian emerge from the bookshelves, his lips still pressed thin and matching the same expression she had; a sour one. Behind her were a few other students, all glaring in the group's direction. Nishinoya noticed her first and smacked Tanaka to shut him up, quickly scrambling back onto their seats. She watched them with a stern expression before raising her hand and pointing at the exit.

“I’m sorry boys, but your noise level is unacceptable. It’s distracting the other students. I’m going to have to ask you to leave for the day.”

While the others squawked in confusion or scrambled to gather their things, Kageyama was the first one up. His chair scraped loudly against the floor as he grabbed his bag and whirled around to finally face Hinata. 

As he expected, there was confusion dancing across his features. His hands were partly between his body and reaching towards Kageyama like they didn’t know if he should be touched. He decided after a moment and slowly reached towards him.

“Tobio-”

“Don’t.”

The hands stopped abruptly between them. He decided far too late, as the setter quickly brushed past him without making any eye contact. He kept his eyes forward at the exit, ignoring Hinata’s calls, the librarian behind him, the concerned looks from most of his friends. All in favor of the shame and disappointment that was brewing in his stomach. He knew if he looked back now, it would all come spewing out and they’d get banned from the library for far more than a day.

  
So, he kept his eyes forward.

“I’ll see you later, Hinata.”

Kageyama was the first to leave that day, disappearing through the bookshelves until nobody saw the sleek black hair through them. He left so suddenly that the paper with letters connecting to form Hinata’s name was left right next to his book and invited Hinata to pick it up. 

His eyes trailed over the thick lines that went all around the paper before clenching it into a fist. The paper crumpled and then fell from his hand, falling behind him and landing at the feet of the only person who remained at their table.

“Hinata?”

He stared at the paper for a moment before raising his eyes and making a choice.

“Sugawara, I need your help.”


	4. step 4 (?)

It was as if Kageyama had disappeared off the face of the Earth. 

The study group resumed in the following days, but he was nowhere to be found. Every time he stopped by his dorm room, Goshiki was the only one there (and he tried asking- the boy had no clue where Kageyama went when he wasn’t at the dorm room). He thought he could stake him out at one of his classes, or practice, but he somehow managed to show up to those without Hinata noticing.

By the time winter break rolled around, Hinata was at a loss of what to do. He had Kageyama’s number, but none of his texts were being read. Calling and facetime had the same effect. He had no idea where he lived. A normal person would just wait until school was back in session and try and fix everything then, right?

But Hinata had a feeling. It was a primal feeling that had been resting in his chest since the day Tsukishima had called him cruel, and it screamed that if he didn’t fix this _ now,  _ there’d be nothing to fix when Kageyama came back. 

With the first day of winter break among them, Hinata reached out to the only person he knew who could help him fix this and not lose everything they had built.

  
  


_________________

  
  


“Kageyama, I know you’re in there!”

He knocked again, but the silence persisted. A long sigh left his lips and he watched as the white puff vanished into the air.

When Hinata had come to him asking for his help, he had been reluctant. He had meddled enough in their affairs last time with a single whispered sentence, and now he was being asked to show up to Kageyama’s off-campus home during winter break? Absolutely not. Even if he was concerned for him, there was no way he was getting involved.

That was until Hinata showed him the unanswered text messages. Then, the calls. Finally, all the facetimes and emails. That was a whole new level of worrying because if Kageyama was ignoring just him, fine; he did cause this mess, in his own way, but Hinata’s texting history with him always showed an answer within the hour. If that wasn’t enough, Hinata also mentioned that he had left his dorm room without any of his winter homework, so someone had to bring it to him or his grade would be brought down even further; that would mean being dropped from the volleyball team and possibly his scholarship as well.

That’s how Sugawara ended up outside this house in downtown Miyagi, hands shivering and grasping the textbooks and papers tightly. 

“Kageyama, if you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine. But I have your work,” he pleaded again and this time, he swore he heard shuffling on the other side of the door. “At least come out and grab it, then I’ll leave. We don’t have to talk about...recent events.”

_ Recent events.  _ Is that what he was calling it now?

He didn’t have time to cringe at the wording as the lock clicked and the door swung open. Kageyama’s frame took up much of the doorway, blocking Sugawara from looking inside. He expected to see a broken, depressed man hiding him from an equally depressing home. . .going off of what Hinata claimed he’d look like, anyway. Instead, he looked surprisingly well kept, all things considered; his hair was brushed, his clothes weren’t stained or crumpled, and his eye bags were minimal. Whatever movies Hinata was watching to get the idea that Kageyama would appear that way had to be withheld from him at once.

He held out the books to the younger boy, flashing a small smile.

“Here’s everything Hi— we found in your dorm room. Hopefully, we didn’t miss anything!”

His name almost spilling from Sugawara’s lips and the " _ we"  _ hung heavy in the air for a moment, but if Kageyama went through any sort of change from hearing it, he didn’t show it. He murmured a small thanks and took the books from him before turning and walking down the hallway. Sugawara hung in the doorway and watched until he stopped at the end of the hall. Without turning back, his voice filtered down to him - “You can come in if you want.” - before he disappeared around a corner.

Sugawara took the invitation and stepped inside, quickly taking his shoes off at the entrance and closing the door behind him before following where Kageyama had gone. The gray walls were sparsely scattered with pictures of his juniors' youth, each one featuring a brightly smiling Kageyama that got older and older with each one. Each picture featured an older man standing next to him with a hand on the younger’s shoulder and a smile that highlighted the wrinkles on his face. At the end of the hallway, the pictures dropped off suddenly after what looked like a junior high aged picture of Kageyama, only to pick right up again when he turned into the living room with a picture of Hinata.

The younger had his arms extended outwards to hold the camera with a bright grin on his face. In the background was a still of Kageyama with his mouth wide open and hand reaching for Hinata’s hair. They were both wearing their college volleyball uniforms and a scribbled date at the bottom told him that it was taken the first day of volleyball practice. The longer he stared at it, the more it reminded him of what he was really there to do.

“He isn't mad at you.”

The words left his mouth before he could stop them. From across the room, Kageyama stilled. He was hung over the small table where he had placed his books and was staring down at them with an unreadable expression that made Sugawara wonder that maybe he should’ve kept what he was really there to do to himself.

Instead of addressing the question, Kageyama slowly stood to his full height and asked his own.

“How did you find out where I lived?”

“Huh? Oh, that.”

The silverette huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You really are such a recluse, y’know that? I had to have Tsukishima ask his brother, then he asked Tanaka’s sister, who then asked her girlfriend, who finally asked her hairdresser who just  _ happened  _ to be your older sister, and she told me where you lived. So, if that answers your question and ends your attempts at distracting me, I’d like to get back to the conversation at hand.”

“Was worth a shot.”

“Kageyama.”

At the sound of his name, he watched the other drop his head and sigh. Kageyama turned and took a seat on the couch, head hung low and Sugawara realized that Hinata’s words may have had some truth in them and that the farce Kageyama put up when opening the door was just that. His lips were tugged into a deep frown and his whole body was slumped as if he was trying to shy away from his problems. When he spoke, his voice was so light that Sugawara had to get right in front of him to hear what he was saying.

“...I don’t get how he can’t hate me. I put him on the spot in the library, I haven’t answered any of his texts or calls…”

His bottom lip wobbled and Sugawara quickly lurched forward, throwing his arms around the other boy. Kageyama stiffened in the hold but was quick to melt into it, taking a deep breath.

“Stop that right this instant. You didn’t put him on the spot in the library; I did. I put both of you on the spot by opening my mouth and Tsukishima made it worse by repeating it.”

The silence was his only response, as well as deep, labored breaths. Kageyama was probably doing everything in his power at the moment to not completely break down. He kept the silence for a moment before the boy shifted slightly and nodded against his chest; a sign to keep going.

“Hinata could never hate you over a miscommunication because that’s what this is; a giant miscommunication. The best thing you can do for both of you is to talk. Talk about your feelings, about your problems, just  _ communicate.” _

“I’ve never been good at that, you know. Talking about my feelings.”

“And you don’t have to be! You just have to try. It’s better to not be good at it and try than not try at all. Besides, you really think Hinata, the one who describes his feelings as “gwah!’s” and “bwoosh!’s”, has any right to say  _ you’re _ bad at talking about feelings?”

That elicited a wet laugh from him that Sugawara was glad to hear. He was hesitant to let go as he pulled back but did anyways, settling for a small pat on his junior's head. The deep breaths from before were gone, replaced with shallow ones that mimicked Sugawara’s breathing pattern. 

“This sounds like one of his steps in that stupid dating thing, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. But hey, it’s good advice, right?”

Sugawara laughed loudly and Kageyama joined in with a small chuckle before his eyes dropped to his phone.  _ “Just communicate” _ , his senpai had said, which was arguably easier said than done. The options he was faced with were either communicate with Hinata now, or let this rift of miscommunication fester until winter break ended, and God only knows if he’d be able to fix it then. Both options were terrifying and both faced him with unknown outcomes, but only one made his laughter taper off and the frown settles back onto his face.

He picked up his phone and began to type. 

_________________

  
  


Across Miyagi, a phone vibrated on the arm of a green couch and was quickly picked up by a teenage girl. She squinted at the screen before draping herself dramatically across the back of the couch and staring into the kitchen.

“Shouyouuuuu!”

“Whattttt?”

His voice came back equally as drawled, mixed in with the sound of running water and the clinking of dishes. 

“Someone named Kageyamaaaaaa texted youuuuuu!”

The girl yelled back, raising the phone again to her face before throwing her arm back down with it. When she moved it away, her brother was standing right in front of her. The water was still running in the background as she yelped and dove away from him as he reached wildly for his phone.

“Give me that!”

“Ew, your hands are all wet-”

“Give me the phone-”

“Ask nicely and maybe-”

“Natsu!”

“Fine, here!”

He snatched the phone from her and quickly wiped his wet hands on the couch to dry them, ignoring his sister’s voice of how their mother will yell at him if he leaves any marks. The messaging app is quickly opened to indeed reveal a single message from Kageyama after days of “Read” texts from his end and even the simple words the message contained were more than enough for him.

**kageyama.**

We need to talk.

**Sent! 3:05pm**


	5. step 5

Half a day of planning was not enough time to mentally prepare for something like this, but here he was anyway.

The chill of the December air bit at his skin and he tugged down the sleeves of his black coat to further cover up. His breath came out in short little huffs, filling the silence of the otherwise empty park. He thought getting onto the campus during a school break would be harder than just flashing his school ID at the gate, but here he was. The way the campus was seemingly devoid of all life but himself was only a little unsettling.

Though, that would change in a few moments.

Kageyama definitely hadn’t been thinking when he texted Hinata. He had let himself get caught up in the warmth of Sugawara’s hugs and drowned in the sweetness of his advice, but now that his head was clear, it was painfully obvious how underprepared he was. The fear from yesterday was amplified tenfold just standing there, clinging to his skin like a second coat. What if Hinata didn’t show up? Or what if he did show up and he started yelling? Or what if he didn’t show up and started yelling at him over text? 

What if he showed up and Kageyama fucked up again?

_ ‘You should leave,’  _ his brain whispered, his toes curling anxiously in his sneakers at the suggestion,  _ ‘if you’re gone before he gets here, he’ll never know. Delete his number, quit the team, change schools, and it’ll all go away.’  _ The voice put his body on high alert and that made more whispers of the same nature come. ‘ _ Leave. Disappear. Run.’ _

The clouds of air were appearing faster now and he took a forced deep breath. This had happened yesterday too, when Sugawara had pointed out how big a miscommunication this all was. The only difference was now, he didn’t have his senpai to lean on and mimic his breathing with.

‘ _ Breathe, Tobio, breathe,’  _ he thought, taking in a big huff of air. He kept it in just long enough for his lungs to start to burn before exhaling, and that seemed to do the trick with calming the nagging voice ( which he could now helpfully recognize as  _ anxiety  _ ) down and forcing it back to the corners of his mind.

“Tobio?”

Which was good, considering it was right when Hinata showed up.

Kageyama turned to face him and, despite having only gone without his face for a few days, was met with a sight for sore eyes. Fluffy orange hair contrasted greatly with the drab surroundings and demanded his attention before anything else. A grey scarf wrapped around his neck and matching grey gloves poked out from under the sleeves of his tan jacket. The expression on his face was unreadable and his friend Anxiety so hopefully pointed out that it could be  _ anger, disappointment, pity-. _

“We’re on a first-name basis now, huh?”

Hinata’s unreadable demeanor cracked with a small smile and Anxiety quieted right down again.

“Do you not want to be?”

“No, I’m fine with it.”   
  


Silence enveloped them again and Kageyama tugged his physical and mental jacket closer around himself. Whatever words were shared between them would be just between them. These next few moments could either be the end of everything they had made together or the start of something new and Kageyama was hyper-aware of it the second he opened his mouth.

“Can I start with-”

“I just want to say-”

They both abruptly came to a halt, eyes blown wide and staring right into the others. Hinata’s gaze slowly narrowed into a wary one and Kageyama let his mouth snap closed, nodding for him to continue. Even then, he took a second before starting back up again.

“Well, I was thinking about how I was gonna say we don’t have to be awkward around each other. But I figured that would just be weird and probably make us more awkward? So...I guess I’ll just cut to the chase.”

He sucked in a deep breath and Kageyama prepared. He prepared himself for yelling, for anger, for stares and points and blame, but none came. 

“I’m not mad. I missed you, a lot, bakayama.”

Hinata whispered, his voice disappearing in the white puff of air. His heart was pounding so loudly in his chest that he almost didn’t register the words, but when he did, he sputtered out a weak response.

“W-wh- you aren’t mad? Even though-”

“Though what? Even though you fell in love with me? Yeah, I could never be mad at you for that.”

“But…”

Kageyama trailed off and, despite not saying anything, they both knew the words that hung between them.  _ ‘But do you feel the same?’ _ If he did, this was a hell of a way of showing it. If he didn’t, then maybe Sugawara had a point in saying he was being cruel. Maybe.

Hinata took the words hanging between them in stride and quickly closed the gap between them, his gloves reaching out to curl around Kageyama’s. For a second, he was back in the skating rink with the lights shining on them and their hands being the only things linking them together as they turned dangerously around the bends. Hinata was as warm to the touch as he was then and Kageyama thought that there was no way he’d be able to go without this.

“I...I think I feel the same.”

“You think?”

“Love is difficult!”

Hinata squawked, squeezing his hands in a mock protest. He was quick to drop it as Kageyama let out a weak chuckle and sighed instead.

“But seriously...I thought about it and I didn’t...I liked going on dates with you. Even if they were a mess at first.”

“Hey-”

“But! I don’t think we should go on those dates again. In the end, it was kinda cruel what I did, even if it wasn’t on purpose. I think there could be another way to solve this little problem of ours, but first...why didn’t you answer my texts?”

Suddenly, the warmth he loved was turning into a blistering wildfire against his skin. Hinata’s gaze left no room for argument and even less room for escape and he knew he’d have to do the one thing he dreaded; talk. His throat was dry and scratchy, his lips were chapped from the coat, and the warmth of Hinata and his jacket of fear were almost suffocating, but the words clawed themselves out anyway.

“I thought you’d be mad,” he rasped out, cringing at how bad his voice sounded. “About my feelings, about me running away- I don't know, it was stupid. You made me feel all... _ugh_ inside but in a good way? I didn’t know how to deal with it until Sugawara came around.”

Hinata nodded and hummed as he talked, encouraging him to keep going. The wildfire in his hands was calming down now, returning to the gentle warmth he could lean into. 

“I didn’t know how to react and I should’ve said so sooner and I’m  _ sorry,  _ Shouyou. So...there. And since I know you’ll hold this over my head now, please tell me what your solution for us is.”

“One, you’re absolutely right, I will be holding this over your head. Two...let me take you on a real date!”

If Kageyama hadn’t already panicked before this, he would’ve done more than just a tired nod. Internally, his brain was in shambles trying to figure out what _ this  _ meant for their relationship, and his heart was beating faster and faster the longer their hands stayed together, but his tired body was too stressed to keep up with the demand.

“I think...that sounds nice.”

“You think?”

Hinata teased and Kageyama made a half-hearted swipe at his hair. As usual, Hinata ducked out of the way and offered a small snicker before resuming his spot in front of Kageyama.

“We still gotta pick a time, and place, and probably talk about a few more times, but...it’s a date?”

Kageyama stared at the man in front of him. The man, who just a few months ago, was nothing more than a friend and part-time nuisance and now a key figure to the rest of his time at college and potentially, life itself. The man he let tug him along for a ride, a ride he could look back on and smile at. The man he was smiling at right now.

“Yeah, it’s a date.”

  
  
Kageyama Tobio was many things. He was athletic, able to chase after his boyfriend's orange head for miles if given the chance. He was a quick thinker and clever, always able to point out a flaw in one of their scheduled dates and find a solution around it. He was even intelligent, to some degree, raising his grade slowly over winter break with solid grades on the homework to stay on the volleyball team. Kageyama Tobio was many good things, all compiled neatly in a mental list.

While being exceptional at romance wasn’t on that list, he was good enough at it to have Hinata Shouyou.

For him, that alone topped anything he could ever have on that list. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter for Hinata Shouyou's Five Step Guide to Getting a Good Date! Thank you all so much for reading, and place check my wonderful partner Robin's art on their Twitter, @hana_shi_! Thank you all again and I hope you liked the story! <3


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